Purposeful Unpatterning: Investigating Maroon Site Distribution In Colonial Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the colonial era, Spanish Florida built a reputation as a refuge for self-liberated people escaping from slavery in the Carolinas and Georgia. However, following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Florida was passed from one government to another and the Maroons’ freedom was under constant threat. Florida Maroons were constantly on the move and their communities were ultimately disrupted and displaced by the U.S. government. Consequently, a low density of materials, deficiency of known sites, and lack of contemporary Maroon presence plagues Maroon archaeology in Florida, and Maroons have been largely relegated to a supporting role in Florida history. However, I argue that by turning our attention away from the sites themselves, and placing Maroon sites within a comparative framework, we will be able to identify significant spatial relationships between known Maroon sites and Euro-American and Native American sites, as well as recognize patterns in Maroon movement through the region; ultimately creating an opportunity to reinterpret the role played by self-liberated Africans and African descendent peoples in Florida’s history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26171